federal aid for states that were devastated by superstorm sandy. it may not pass in congress until next year because of the fiscal cliff negotiations. >>> and some restrictions on electronic devices during flights could soon be lifted if the federal communications commission has its way. in a letter to the faa, the agency called for greater use of portable devices on planes. i thought they affected navigation systems. but maybe that's not true. >>> and finally, a fish tale with a picture to prove it. a fisherman caught what is believed to be the biggest yellow fin tuna ever. landed on rod and reel, that is. 459 pounds. he fought the fish for some two hours. the previous record, dan harris was reminding me, was 427 pounds this year. >> i take this very seriously, ron. >> a walking encyclopedia. >> he likes his sushi. that's what it is. >>> time for the weather and ginger zee. >> good morning, everybody. i want to start in the pacific northwest, where they've been waiting for snow at some of the ski resorts. and snowboarders happy, too. snoqualmie pass, they got it. up to a foot of snow.

billion today p states rebuild after superstorm sandy. in new york city, a jury deliberated more than a week in the trial of a bus driver accused of being so tired, he caused a crash that killed 15 of his passengers. today came the verdict: not guilty. and michelle miller tells us the driver is a free man tonight. .> how do you find the >> hndant, guilty or not guilty? >> not guilty. t reporter: the bus driver wept veen he heard the verdict. ears ill williams could have faced 15 years in prison. hisas driving 32 people from a connecticut casino to new york's chinatown when his bus hit a guardrail, toppled, and was torn open by a signpost. williams claimed he'd been cut off by a tractor-trailer. investigators found no evidence of that. but they discovered williams averaged three hours of sleep in the days before the crash. they cited driver fatigue as the probable cause. florence wong's father don lee was killed in the crash. >> he had 15 lives that was under under his control and they're not here. he has to live with that with conscinscience. >> reporter: prosecutors called 55 witness

the state for 100% of its emergency costs following superstorm sandy. the total? nearly $40 billion. >>> we've heard the controversy surrounding the food stamp program. another politician is taking the challenge to see what it's like for other people who rely on it. newark mayor cory booker is pledging to live off food stamps for one week, joining other celebrities like mario batali, colorado governor john hickenlooper, philadelphia mayor michael nutter and representative robert brady. joining me now is sister simone campbell. thank you, sister, for joining us this morning. >> glad to be with you, carol. >> i wondered what you felt about mayor booker's exercise. what do you think? is he doing the right thing? >> i think anything that brings attention of ordinary folks to the struggle of people, low-income neem our society, this probably is a step forward. i think he will find it quite challenging. when we were in milwaukee during a tour, our bus tour, we discov discovered a man and his wife and two kids who used food stamps for breakfast and lunch during summertime when the kids are

? >> more than a month after superstorm sandy, a family living in a borrowed apartment is trying to put its life back together. >>> plus, back behind bars. john mcafee under arrest and get this. he's blogging from jail. >>> and could an online review of a business get you sued? a new case raises the question, just how far can you go when you sound off online? tonight our guest, thomas sargent. nobel laureate in economics, and one of the most cited economists in the world. professor sargent, can you tell me what cd rates will be in two years? no. if he can't, no one can. that's why ally has a raise your rate cd. ally bank. your money needs an ally. wooohooo....hahaahahaha! oh...there you go. wooohooo....hahaahahaha! i'm gonna stand up to her! no you're not. i know. you know ronny folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico sure are happy. how happy are they jimmy? happier than a witch in a broom factory. get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. hurry in and try five succulent entrees, like our tender snow crab paired with savory garlic s

home survives superstorm sandy, but vanishes in the days afterwards. welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> the united states is now updating plans for a potential strike against syria due to intelligence showing the regime filled aerial bombs with deadly serin gas. barbara starr is getting new information from the pentagon, joining us with the latest. what is the latest on the disturbing development? >> wolf, let's emphasize, updating plans potentially if defense is ordered. for defense secretary leon panet panetta, the priority is to determine serious intent. with the u.s. now believing the syrian government has chemical filled bombs, cnn has learned the pentagon is secretly updating military strike options for president obama in the event he orders action. a senior u.s. official tells cnn a strike could be carried out with the ships and aircraft already stationed in the region. but planning is driven by the latest intelligence, which u.s. offic

debate over the fiscal cliff. despite predictions of stalled job creation in november in superstorm sandy and looming fiscal cliff, the nation added 146,000 jobs last month, and unemployment ticked down to 7.7%. while november's figures are higher than expected, september and october were revised down 16 and 33,000 jobs respectively. chief economists for moody's analytics mark zandi cautions november may see a downward revision but the numbers are a good sign. >> bottom line, feels like the job market is holding firm in the face of sandy and fiscal cliff concerns, so that's good news. >> surprising exactly no one, the white house and republicans had different spin on the numbers. >> if congress does address the problems that it needs to address, concerning the fiscal cliff, if we have reasonable resolution type of programs that the president has been proposing to support the economy in the short run, get us on a sustainable fiscal path in the long run, protect the middle class we're going to see progress in this economy. >> the risk the president wants us to take increasing tax rate

thing that's interesting about this is we still need to see superstorm sandy impact, maybe it will show up next month. who knows. presidential election is over. the federal reserve, by the way, will be watching to see what the fed does in terms of monetary policy. we know it will keep interest rates very low. will they have any stimulus up their sleeve? all of this are things we're still looking forward to. fiscal cliff still hanging over us. markets, at least, are telling us that we think washington will get its act together, avert the fiscal cliff and like what they see from the jobs report this morning. >> my goodness. that's optimism there. can you talk to me a little more about this job market shrinking and that maybe why the unemployment rate dropped? >> two surveys that the government takes, household survey where they call thos thousands of people at home and ask, are you working? that's the number that gives us the unemployment rate. they also talked to thousands and thousands of companies and they say how many jobs do you have? how many jobs have you added? that's how you

from superstorm sandy. it wasn't there. that's what the bureau of labor sta stisks told us. we thought it might have a significant impact. it didn't. second of all, a number of people gave up on looking for work. that's why you see the significant decline in the unemployment rate. >> where were the jobs gained? >> primarily retail, which added 53,000 jobs. business services have been strong throughout this recovery. we saw those add 43,000 jobs and lastly health care, which has been one of those fields that most people would say is untouchable because there's a growing need for health care as the boomer population ages and because there are consistently jobs in the health care. also computer services were strong. retail, one thing to note, it's november, people hire for the holidays. >> rebecca jarvis, thank you. >> now to the crisis in the middle east. rejecting president mohamed morsi's call for reconciliation, refusing to compromise last night as he spoke to the nation. earlier, morsi got a call from president obama after a deadly confrontation between morsi's supporters and

hiring for the holidays offset the superstorm sandy. in addition, i think -- and where i would differ from jared just a little bit and we rarely do -- the underlying economy is consideri considerably stronger. if you take into account the number of baby boomers that are retiring, that has not been talked about and does effect the labor force participation rate. the broadest measure of unemployment, the unemployed and those who left the workforce fell to 14.7%. so i think things are getting better. what i'm most afraid of is the type of talk we heard from speaker boehner and maxine waters. they are taking us to the cliff on both sides. the fact that entitlements is off the table is crazy. my friend david kotac said we should go all go to our window as was done in the movie "network" and yell out the window and say, i'm mad as hell. quit messing around with the economy. >> jared, what do you think? >> listen, if john is correct that the economy is even doing a little better than we think, all the more reason -- it kind of underscores my basic point, which is all the more reason not to b

, washington. >>> new york has as much as $1 million wasted as the city recovers from superstorm sandy. the wall street journal now is reporting that scores of hotel rooms paid for with public money have been vacant for weeks. they're supposed to house residents displaced by the superstorm, but those rooms are unoccupied. more than 1,000 people are l

with your money. bill: one man' home survived superstorm sandy. but it did not make it through the recovery. >> the township didn't know what happened. i called the governor' office and she said to me, are you sure your house is gone? i said, miss, you miss place a pen or pencil, you don't miss place a house. ♪ i wish my patits could see what i see. ♪ that over time, having high cholesterol and any of thesrisk factors can put them at increased risk for plaque buildup in their arteries. so it's even more important to lower their cholesterol, and that's why, when diet and exercise alone aren't enough, i prescribe crestor. in a clinical trial versus lipitor, crestor got more high-risk patients' bad cholesterol to a goal of under 100. [ female announcer ] crestor is not right for everyone. like people with liver disease or women who are nursing, pregnant or may become pregnant. tell your doctor about other medicines you're taking. call your doctor rht away if you have muscle pain or weakness, feel unusually tired, calhave loss of appetite, upper belly pain, dark urine or yellowing

november was unique. besides superstorm sandy's aftermath possibly skewing both surveys, the labor department says it decided to call people's homes a week early because of thanksgiving. diane swan says look for the numbers to be revised. >> we did see unemployment insurance claims surge in the wake of sandy. and they may not have been totally included in some of the data as well because of electrical problems and people submitting on the survey. so it is unclear that although the number looks better than when what we expected, whether it is capturing sandy, because there were so many disruptions to reporting that my guess is that that's part of the reason we're seeing this seeing this distortion. >> but labor secretary says her agency takes all those things into account. her agency's report said, quote, its analysis suggests that hurricane sandy did not substantively impact the national emunemployment and unemployment numbers. >> they make judgments. the labor bureau statistics does their calculation. they look back at what happens happened previously, they use the same methodolog

fewer than the 171,000 that were added in october. a lot happened last month. superstorm sandy, labor turmoil at hostess and business uncertainty because our elected officials won't get their act together and deal with the fiscal cliff. brace yourself for a job number that could be even lower than the already weak forecast. i hope i am wrong about that. from the cnn money newsroom in new york, i'm ali velshi. that's it from me. same time tomorrow. i plugged in snapshot, and 30 days later, i was saving big on car insurance. with snapshot, i knew what i could save before i switched to progressive. the better i drive, the more i save. i wish our company had something this cool. you're not filming this, are you? aw! camera shy. snapshot from progressive. test-drive snapshot before you switch. visit progressive.com today. plays a key role throughout our lives. one a day men's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for men's health concerns as we age. it has 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day men's 50+. it has 7 antioxidants to support cell health. social security are just nu

costs following superstorm sandy. fema generally reimburses states in the ballpark of 75% of costs following disasters like this. the governor says cleaning up and repairing new jersey after the superstorm could cost nearly $40 billion. >>> an extramarital affair ended his stellar career of public service. but not so long ago there was some serious talk that general david petraeus might run for president. some of that talk apparently even came from the top at fox news. washington post bob woodward writes about some private recordings in which fox news analyst k.t. mcfarland meeting with general petraeus in afghanistan in the spring of last year delivered a personal message from roger ales. >> he says if you're offered chairman, take it. if you're offered anything else, don't take it, resign in six months and run for president. okay. i know you're not running for president. but at some point when you go to new york next, you may want to just chat with roger and rupert -- >> well, rupert, look, what i have told people is that, you know, i truly want to continue to serve my country if

that superstorm sandy caused $60 billion worth of damage in this country. but after all that devastation, construction jobs are seeing a big bump in communities that sandy hit hard. rick leventhal is live on staten island, new york, a little bit of a silver lining here, rick. >> reporter: yeah. of course a lot of businesses suffered as a result of hurricane sandy, especially restaurants and retail hit by that storm surge. but as you mentioned, some businesses are seeing a boom, especially in the home improvement area. construction jobs, plumbers, electricians, landscapers, roofers, drywall finishers, they're all working very, very hard, getting a lot of new business. we spoke to a couple, dana that and anthony devigne know, who run their own electrical contracting business, here's what they told us. >> people want their work done right away, and we're working as hard as we can to get that done for them. >> and i'm a firm believer in taking the work while it's there, so we really don't pass up too much. if we have to work saturdays and sundays, we will. >> reporter: no vacatio

superstorm sandy and then potentially to prepare for future storms. >>> at least 49 elementary school students and adults had to be rushed to an atlanta hospital today because of a carbon monoxide leak. here is the thing. firefighters discovered the highest levels they have ever recorded of the deadly gas near the school's furnace. listen to the firefighter. >> obviously with carbon monoxide, the danger is going to be an affix ant, it could stop people from breathing. these children have been in the classroom since 7:30. our readings in the classroom were not quite as high as our reading at 1700 was near the actual furnace area. >> want to bring in george howell here. you brought in what i can only presume is a carbon monoxide detector. tell me about it and were there any of these in the school? >> this say professional carbon monoxide detector. this is what we use here at the cnn center. this will run you a couple thousand dollars. couple thousand of dollars for this. it is important to check. but for your home, $17. $17 is all it takes to get one of these in your home, to monitor fo

sudden drop in the price of gasoline? >> three things. one is superstorm sandy took a lot of cars off the road. it really reduced demand for gasoline as you know. until recently there have been a number of gas stations in the northeast still without gas. people after realizing they weren't going to have as easy a time getting gas decided to make other plans it the storm itself took some roads out and took some people off the road. number two, there were some refinery issues in california going on at the same time. they've been resolved. that's put more gasoline online. the third thing, this one's important, crude oil prices, which are really the underlying feedstock for gasoline, crude oil prices have remained low. as we are concerned about the fiscal cliff and a slowdown in the world's economy and in asia and in europe. so these are the three factors that have come together to give us a sustained drop in the price of gasoline almost over the last three weeks, wolf. >> is this a short-term development? what's in store over the longer term? >> we're into that lower driving season. obviousl

superstorm sandy. still, guys, the number much better than expected. few tuesday, which were down right before the numbers hit, turned around. they are now higher fractionally so a big turn for stock futures and better than expected jobs number for november. i can dig in more once i get to the website. but those are your headline numbers. better than expected. >> gillian, better than expected. a lot of people blamed hurricane sandy again but that's encouraging. >> i have two economists, a liberal, who both said it was going to be somewhere between 80,000 and 100,000 jobs -- say that go sandy was worth 80 -- negatively 80,000 to 100,000. you take 146,000 and this could have been a 200-plus number. >> it's interesting because it ties in with consumer data we've been seeing which actually, you know, is not great. it's not buoyant, but it's not bad. and you look at the fact what american households have been doing recently with debt and the degree of debt they've been repaying, sort of deleveraging. you add it together and actually it's not booming but it's not -- >> i want to add if we don